Vir2 Instruments Releases Three New Virtual Instruments at NAMM '09

At the 2009 NAMM show, Vir2 Instruments announced three new virtual instruments including the highly anticipated MOJO.

MOJO: Horn Section

Now at the tips of your fingers is the most versatile horn section in the world, MOJO: Horn Section, which offers the most flexible and innovative approach to pop, funk, jazz, and big band horns ever created in a virtual instrument. Inspired by legendary groups like Tower of Power and the big bands of decades past, MOJO is capable of emulating everything from a sultry sax solo to a screaming full big band playing at the top of their lungs.

Pushing the boundaries of sampling and scripting technology far beyond traditional sample libraries, MOJO offers a simple but feature-packed interface. No need to decide in advance which articulation you want to play. Simply load the instrument, turn the Ensemble knob to specify how many players you want playing that instrument (from a soloist to a dectet) and begin controlling the instrument from the keyboard. More than a dozen articulations are instantly loaded and intelligently handled via performance features and keyswitches. Behind the scenes, a humanizing function, smart release layers, and custom legato and vibrato tools assist the player in reproducing the ultimate dimensions in realism. Crescendos and swells sync instantly to host tempos and can be triggered in real time.

Included in the instrument collection are: soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, trumpet (open, muted, and piccolo), flugelhorn, trombone (open and muted), bass trombone, and clarinet. The articulation list varies for each instrument, but generally includes sustains, stabs, staccatos, trills, slurs, shakes, octave runs, rise to hits, falls (including four different lengths), doits, bends, stylistic riffs, special effects, and tempo- synced swells and crescendos. All samples are recorded in 24-bit stereo using the finest preamps in the world, including a vintage Neve 1073 and a LaChapell Audio 992EG, and mics by AKG, Neumann, and Coles.

MOJO is powered by the popular Kontakt engine, offering total integration into all major sequencers via its AudioUnit, VST, and RTAS plug-ins, as well as standalone operation.

MSRP: 499.95

BLUE: Jazz Drums

BLUE: Jazz Drums provides the essential backbone of jazz music production, featuring three of the finest jazz drum kits in the world, over a thousand jazz drum loops, and extensive control over each element, all packaged into one comprehensive virtual instrument from Vir2 Instruments.

The featured kits contained in BLUE are a DW Collectors Series kit and a Slingerland Jazz Series kit, circa 1978 (featuring a 1965 Slingerland snare) plus a selection of Zildjian cymbals. The DW Collectors Series kit has been recorded both with sticks and with brushes. All drums were recorded in 24-bit through a selection of the world's finest mic pre's, including Neve 1073's, True Precision 8's, and LaChapell 992EG's.

The interface of BLUE offers complete control over the sound and behavior of the kit, including individual control of direct, overhead, and room mics, EQ, additional humanizing control, reverb, convolution, and a huge complement of effects such as distortion, lo-fi, phaser, chorus, flanger, and more. BLUE fully supports various MIDI mappings including full built-in support for e-drum kits such as the Roland TD-12 or TR- 20.

The loops portion of the library features more than one thousand live recorded grooves played by various drummers in various tempos and styles. The loops are presented in two formats: as whole loops that automatically tempo-sync to host tempo, and in REX-style loop slices, allowing the player to reassemble new loops from individual slices. BLUE is powered by the popular Kontakt engine, offering total integration into all major sequencers via its AudioUnit, VST, and RTAS plug-ins, as well as standalone operation.

MSRP: $199.95

World Impact: Global Percussion

Get ready for a perfect storm of ethnic, world, and cinematic percussion. Featuring a massive collection of varied percussion samples, World Impact spans the globe featuring percussion instruments from large to small, west to east, north to south, and traditional to rare. Sampled in meticulous detail and programmed for maximum and instant musical usability, the collection includes hundreds of varied percussion instruments from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and more. A massive multi-gigabyte collection of Japanese Taiko drums recorded from multiple microphone positions forms a central part of the library. Each instrument has been recorded with numerous alternate takes and velocity layers, assuring realistic and dramatically expressive sonic results. World Impact is an essential tool in the toolbox of every film composer, movie trailer producer, and aficionado of world percussion instruments.

Beyond the instrument collection, World Impact is augmented by a powerful pattern engine, the same engine that lies beneath Vir2's Elite Orchestral Percussion, allowing instant access to varied articulations such as chokes, rolls, flams, and ruffs, as well as patterned loop programming for both traditional and synthetic creations. The engine also allows for the layering of effects such as reverb, convolution, delay, chorus, phaser, and more.

World Impact is powered by the industry-leading Kontakt engine. It is compatible with VST, AudioUnit, and RTAS plug-in formats allowing it to work seamlessly within any major sequencer, in addition to standalone use.

MSRP: $399.95